Thursday, May 13, 2010

What you don't know can help you

People are creatures of habit, and in my line of work that’s a good thing. You see, I’m not a typical "people watcher” by any stretch of the means. I don’t walk Venice beach, entertaining myself with the various costumes and craziness that permeates the boardwalk. Nor, do I plant myself on a shopping mall bench to count the number of tattoos or nose rings that decorates each passer-by. No, when I have my eyes on a target, it’s because someone is planning harm on American soil. Don’t kid yourself-terrorists thrive every day on the interior of the United States-training and living among us while they plan their next large scale attack. They ARE out there, waiting for the next opportunity to kill us. My job is to remove that opportunity and send them straight to hell.

Our team travels from city to city, working in concert with various worldwide intelligence communities to stop terrorist attacks on American cities. In the last nine years, we’ve put down nine well planned attacks on U.S. targets, all under the radar of media and the public. Our success stories go unnoticed as we deploy across the country at a moment’s call to shut down the terrorists before they can strike. We are hidden from the public eye, but rest assured, we ARE real. Our organization falls under control of the CIA, the same organization that created MK-ULTRA back in the 1960’s. If you recall, no one believed that program existed either. It was created in the early 1950s and continuing for almost ten years until it was finally revealed 1975. But our surreptitious team doesn’t attempt to alter the mind of our subjects like that illegal CIA program. For us, it’s all about the details! While the most mundane characteristics may go unnoticed to you, to us it’s the difference between terrorist and tourist.

Most of us live in small modestly-one bedroom apartments, peppered with the very bare essentials for comfort in various locations scattered across America. We are a modern day Nomad, never getting the opportunity for that perfect relationship- for love. There is no time for distractions- instead; we stay focused on the mission at hand. We took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” while undertaking some of the most intense training ever experienced.

Ushered to Langley, Virginia, near Washington D.C., I can remember standing over the large CIA crest on the marble floor of the lobby and taking in the tall gray and white square columns that contrasted the white walls and ceiling of the CIA Headquarters. Soon afterwards, nine team members and myself would sit with A.B. “Buzzy" Krongard, executive director and third in charge of the Central Intelligence Agency at that time to cover every detail of the mission for Team Intercept.

Tomorrow we travel to Creighton Middle School in Columbus, Texas, 90 miles southwest of Austin, to stop an aggressive sleeper cell from detonating a dirty bomb. We remain vigilant!